Postman Tells Voters in 11th Coincil District He’ll Deliver

Almost every day he brings messages to people. They come in letters, postcards, boxes and oversized envelopes, which he stuffs with practiced efficiency into the matching metal slots.

Meet Jim Riley, mailman. Monday through Saturday, on his appointed shift, Riley does his best to bring his postal packages to Westside residents on time, without incident and with as much enthusiasm as he can muster during his daily rounds.

Now Riley is attempting to deliver a new message to the very same people on his route and to residents in the San Fernando Valley, Pacific Palisades and West Los Angeles. Meet Jim Riley, 11th District City Council candidate. He may be your mailman. He wants to be your next councilman.

“I’m a regular guy with a regular job,” said Riley. “I’ve experienced the same problems as the people in the district. I’m not connected politically, but I understand these people’s problems and I want to help them.”

Slim Chances

The chances of the 29-year-old political novice unseating popular, 22-year council veteran Marvin Braude are probably about as good as receiving non-Express Mail on the same day.

But Riley is undaunted. He points to Councilwoman Ruth Galanter’s recent upset victory over incumbent Pat Russell as proof of growing discontent among voters in Los Angeles and claims that Braude has lost touch with residents in his district after so many years in office.

However, whether or not he has lost their votes will not be known until the June, 1989, election. Riley, admitting that he has no professional campaign staff to guide him in his quest, is beginning his campaign now to try to offset a major identity problem: No one knows who he is.

He also has almost no money. The $400 he has raised so far has come mostly from family and friends and is about $144,000 short of the amount he said is needed to make a realistic bid.

“We’ll take our campaign door to door,” Riley said during a break from his job last week. “Anybody who will see us, we’ll go to them. People are fed up with politics and politicians in general, so we believe that they’ll respond to what we have to say.”

Riley has lined up his issues in a neat stack, with the city’s parking woes heading the list. He said it’s nearly impossible to park a car around beach or park areas. Metered parking in business areas only serves to fatten city coffers, he claims, and does little to alleviate the problem.

In fact, it was frustration over parking around his post office branch on Santa Monica Boulevard that prompted him to call Braude’s office to see if something could be done. He said he was “almost chastised” by an aide for calling and became angry enough to tackle the problem himself--as a council candidate.

He said the parking problem could be solved by building low-level garages to provide long-term parking for businesses, providing minibuses to take people from the lots to their offices and encouraging other forms of public transportation.

“But painting curbs red and putting up limited parking signs are definitely not the answer,” he said.

The underlying theme of all the problems facing city residents, Riley maintains, is that people have little or no access to their elected representatives. He is promoting “town hall-type meetings,” away from official council headquarters and at times convenient for most people.

“I believe in community involvement,” said Riley, who is a member of the Community Action Board, a city volunteer panel that advises the mayor and City Council on spending grants for the poor and homeless. “I believe in volunteerism. Even if I lose, I’ll stay involved.”

No Campaigning on Job

Although Riley, a Chicago native, has a job that puts him in touch with some of his would-be constituents every day, he must leave his campaign behind when he goes to work. He is prohibited from campaigning while he’s on duty and can not even have his picture taken in his work clothes--the familiar pale blue shirt and blue slacks of your neighborhood mailman.

Riley has been with the Postal Service for almost eight years, and has worked five different mail routes. A resident of West Los Angeles, he still sports the buzz cut of an Army reservist and the fresh-faced enthusiasm of a person who has yet to suffer the slings and arrows of big-city politics.

He calls for increased funding for police services to crack down on what he believes is growing problem with vandalism, drugs, gangs and graffiti.

He considers himself tough on crime and fairly conservative, but says he’s not a “far rightist.” However, he does not believe in early release programs for convicted criminals, and said that the answer to jail overcrowding is fairly simple: Just build more jails.

Riley said he favors controlled development, trying to bring business to areas that need it and limit growth in areas that are already congested. But how best to accomplish that? He admits he does not know yet.

“First of all you have to have all of the figures in front of you, which I don’t have,” he said. “I don’t have all of the solutions. Nobody does. But I’m willing to work hard to solve the problems. I have nothing personal against Marvin Braude, but he’s been in office so long that I think he’s become aloof. He’s beyond the problems.

“Things just don’t seem to be getting done. Braude has his political connections, that’s fine. But if you’re not doing a good job, voters will react. I think there’s a lot of discontent out there.”

Braude’s staff is treating Riley’s candidacy with diplomacy.

“We feel we’re on target and in tune with the voters,” said Cindy Miscikowski, Braude’s chief deputy.

“We have a good rapport with the voters and think since Marvin was a sponsor of a measure that received a citywide mandate (Proposition U, the slow-growth measure), it shows no lack of energy on his part,” she said. “But, obviously, it will be up to them to decide who represents them.”

Riley says he is a realist. He says he knows how difficult it will be to unseat a seasoned incumbent like Braude, especially without a huge bankroll. But he says he’s not intimidated by the challenge. Besides, he adds, he has nothing to lose.

“In 18 months, people will know who Jim Riley is if they’re conscious,” he said. “Right now my chances would be nil. But I’m not satisfied with the job that he (Braude) has done and if you feel things are wrong, you should try to change them. I’m not just doing this for the heck of it.

“It’s not that far-fetched what I’m trying to do. Other people have tried and been successful. But just the fact that I can do it at all shows you what a great country this is.”